Just weeks after being hit by the new French laws banning the use of meat-like terminology, thus preventing the startup from using terms such as ‘bacon’ or ‘lardon’ on its labelling, French vegan bacon specialist La Vie has been attacked by INAPORC, the pork lobby, as its plant-based lardons are too similar to animal-based lardons.
“The pork lobby has put us on notice for ‘unfair competition’, because our vegetable lardons perfectly reproduce the ‘authentic’ pork lardons. Yes, they do. The nicest compliment in the world, with an acknowledgement of receipt as a bonus,” said La Vie on social networks.
“The love letter states that our plant-based lardons “merely reproduce the shape, colour, texture, (…) and taste of pork lardons”. To achieve this with plants, in France, without the animal in the equation and the suffering and CO2 that go with it, yes, we admit our crime: we’re happy with it,” adds the startup.
La Vie, which is never short of originality and repartee, then retaliated by asking its community and consumers to write to INAPORC. For the startup, if vegetable lardons are so identical, then why not change the “recipe” for animal-based pork lardons and avoid the suffering of pigs and the harmful environmental impact?
